How to fix PlatformIO ValueError: Invalid simple block '^0.4.6.4'

Problem:

You want to build your PlatformIO project which has library dependency like

lib_deps =
    nanopb/Nanopb@^0.4.6.4

but you see an error message like

Error: Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/platformio/__main__.py", line 102, in main
    cli()  # pylint: disable=no-value-for-parameter
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1130, in __call__
    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1055, in main
    rv = self.invoke(ctx)
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/platformio/cli.py", line 71, in invoke
    return super().invoke(ctx)
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1657, in invoke
    return _process_result(sub_ctx.command.invoke(sub_ctx))
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1404, in invoke
    return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 760, in invoke
    return __callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/decorators.py", line 26, in new_func
    return f(get_current_context(), *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/platformio/run/cli.py", line 144, in cli
    process_env(
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/platformio/run/cli.py", line 201, in process_env
    result = {"env": name, "duration": time(), "succeeded": ep.process()}
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/platformio/run/processor.py", line 83, in process
    install_project_env_dependencies(
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/platformio/package/commands/install.py", line 132, in install_project_env_dependencies
    _install_project_env_libraries(project_env, options),
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/platformio/package/commands/install.py", line 241, in _install_project_env_libraries
    spec = PackageSpec(library)
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/platformio/package/meta.py", line 184, in __init__
    self._parse(self.raw)
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/platformio/package/meta.py", line 291, in _parse
    raw = parser(raw)
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/platformio/package/meta.py", line 316, in _parse_requirements
    self.requirements = tokens[1].strip()
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/platformio/package/meta.py", line 231, in requirements
    else semantic_version.SimpleSpec(str(value))
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/semantic_version/base.py", line 647, in __init__
    self.clause = self._parse_to_clause(expression)
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/semantic_version/base.py", line 1043, in _parse_to_clause
    return cls.Parser.parse(expression)
  File "/home/uli/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/semantic_version/base.py", line 1063, in parse
    raise ValueError("Invalid simple block %r" % block)
ValueError: Invalid simple block '^0.4.6.4'

Solution

You are using the library version 0.4.6.4 but the library version specifier does not support versions with 4 levels (a.b.c.d) - the correct version specifier is just using the first three digits: a.b.c. In our example, this would be

lib_deps =
  nanopb/Nanopb@^0.4.6

After that, you have to delete your .pio directory in the project folder in order to fix the issue:

rm -rf .pio

When that is done, rebuild and the issue will be gone.